INFO 210 Ch. 8

STUDY

PLAY

business intelligence (BI)

the use of information systems to gather and analyze information from internal and external sources in order to make better business decisions

continuous planning processes

organizations continuously monitor and analyze business processes; the results lead to ongoing adjustments to not only how the organization is managed, but these results are also reflected in ongoing updates to the organizational plans

operational level

the routine, day-to-day business processes and interactions with customers. IS at this level are designed to automate repetitive activities

structured decisions

those in which the processes to follow for a given situation can be specified in advance

managerial level

functional managers focus on monitoring and controlling operational-level activities and providing information to higher levels of the organization

semi-structured decisions

some procedures to follow for a given situation can be specified in advance but not to the extent where a specific recommendation can be made

key performance indicators (KPI's)

the metrics deemed most critical to assessing progress towards a certain goal

executive level

managers focus on long-term strategies facing the organization, such as which products to produce, which countries to compete in, and what organizational strategy to follow

unstructured decisions

few or no procedures to follow for a given situation can be specified in advance

transactions

repetitive activities that occur as a regular part of a business' day to day operations

transaction processing systems (TPS)

a special class of an information system designed to process business events and transactions

source documents

describe a specific business transaction and serve as a stimulus to a TPS from some external source

online processing

transactions that provide immediate results to the system operator or customer

batch processing

transactions that occur when source documents are collected and then processed together at some later time

manual data entry

information entered in by hand

semi-automated data entry

information is entered using some type of data capture device

fully automated data entry

information is entered without human intervention

ad hoc queries

queries created due to unplanned information needs that are typically not saved for later use

scheduled reports

reports produced at predefined intervals to support routine decisions

key indicator reports

reports that provide a summary of critical information on a recurring schedule

exception reports

reports that highlight situations that are out of the normal range

drill-down reports

reports providing greater detail as to why a key indicator is not at an appropriate level or an exception occurred

online analytical processing (OLAP)

refers to the process of quickly conducting complex, multidimensional analyses of data stored in a database that is optimized for retrieval, typically using graphical software tools

OLAP server

understands how data is organized in the database and has special functions for analyzing the data

measures

the values or numbers the user wants to analyze

dimensions

provide a way to summarize the data, such as a region, time, or product line

OLAP cube

a data structure allowing for multiple dimensions to be added to a traditional two-dimensional table

slicing and dicing

analyzing the data on subsets of the dimensions

data mining

complements OLAP in that it provides capabilities for discovering "hidden" predictive relationships in the data.

data reduction

reduces the complexity of the data to be analyzed

association discovery

a technique used to find associations or correlations among sets of items

sequence discovery

used to discover associations over time

clustering

the process of grouping related records together on the basis of having similar values for attributes

classification

used when the groups ("classes") are know beforehand and records are segmented into these classes

text mining

refers to analytical techniques for extracting information from textual documents

web mining

an approach to analyze the usage or content of web pages

web usage mining

used by organizations such as amazon.com to determine patterns in customers' usage data

clickstream data

a recording of the users' path through a web site

stickiness

the ability to attract and keep visitors

web content mining

refers to extracting textual information from web documents

management information systems (MIS)

refers to a specific type of information system that is used to produce reports to support the ongoing, recurring business processes associated with managing an entire business or a functional area within a business

executive information system (EIS)

consists of technology data, procedures, and the people needed to consolidate information from internal and external sources to assist executive-level decision making

soft data

includes textual news stories or other non-analytical information

hard data

includes facts and numbers

decision support system (DSS)

a special-purpose information system designed to support organizational decision making related to a particular recurring problem

what if analysis

allows you to make hypothetical changes to the data associated with a problem and observe how these changes influence the results

functional area information system

a cross-organizational-level information system designed to support the business processes of a specific functional area

groupware

refers to a class of software that enables people to work together more effectively

electronic meeting systems (EMS)

essentially a collection of personal computers networked together with sophisticated software tools to help group members solve problems and make decisions through interactive electronic idea generation, evaluation, and voting

all of the required components packaged into a single piece of equipment, usually a console with a high quality remote controlled video camera.

artificial intelligence (AI)

the science of enabling information technologies to simulate human intelligence

intelligent system

comprised of sensors, software, and computers embedded in machines and devices, that emulate and enhance human capabilities

expert system (ES)

a type of intelligent system that uses reasoning methods based on knowledge about a specific problem domain in order to provide advice

fuzzy logic

allows ES rules to be represented using approximations or subjective values in order to handle situations where information about a problem is incomplete

rule

a way of encoding knowledge, such as a recommendation, after collecting information from a user

inferencing

consists of matching facts and rules, determining the sequence of questions presented to the user, and drawing a conclusion

neural network

this IS attempts to approximate the functioning of the human brain

intelligent agent

a program that works in the background to provide some service when a specific event occurs

web spider

agents that continuously browse the web for specific information

knowledge management

refers to the processes an organization uses to gain the greatest value from its knowledge assets

knowledge assets

the underlying skills, routines, practices, principles, formulas, methods, heuristics, and intuitions, whether explicit or tacit, and all databases, manuals references works, textbooks, diagrams, displays, computer files, proposals, plans, and any other artifacts in which both facts and procedures are recorded and stored

explicit knowledge assets

reflect knowledge that can be documented, archived, and codified, often with the help of information systems

tacit knowledge assets

reflect the processes and procedures that are located in a person's mind on how to effectively perform a particular task

best practices

procedures and processes that are widely accepted as being among the most effective and/or efficient

knowledge management system

a collection of technology-based tools that enable the generation, storage, sharing, and management of tacit and explicit knowledge assets

social network analysis

a technique that attempts to find groups of people who work together, to find people who don't collaborate but should, or to find experts in particular subject areas

search appliance

a special type of computer that analyzes and indexes information within a web site

visualization

refers to the display of complex data relationships using a variety of graphical methods, enabling managers to quickly grasp the results of the analysis

visual analytics

the combination of various analysis techniques and interactive visualization to solve complex problems

digital dashboards

commonly used to present KPI's and other summary information used by managers and executives to make decisions

geographic information system (GIS)

a GIS is a system for creating, storing, analyzing, and managing geographically referenced information

customer dot mapping

used to map current customers, and decide whether one's business has the optimal location, or whether opening a new store would be warranted

trade area analysis

helps to asses where customers are coming from by combining location information with drive time information to determine is certain areas are under-served

thematic mapping

another widely using GIS technique, that color codes data that is aggregate for specific geographic regions